Meth lab found, 3 arrested
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on August 2, 2005 2:05 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- A potential methamphetamine lab was found in a mobile home and three men were arrested by Wayne and Duplin County authorities and the State Bureau of Investigation.
The arrests early Monday capped a day-long investigation.
Duplin County sheriff's deputies were investigating the theft of anhydrous ammonia from an unidentified plant near Warsaw. The trail led them to a home at 1146 Thunder Swamp Road, west of Mount Olive. They were assisted by deputies from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
The resident, Joseph Irvin Powell, 30, was charged by Wayne deputies with the manufacture of methamphetamine. He was charged by Duplin authorities with breaking and entering, possession of anhydrous ammonia, a liquid chemical fertilizer used in making the drug, and larceny of the chemical.
Hollis Chad Spencer, 30, of Harrells Hill Road, Mount Olive, and Mikel Landis Turner, 24, of Northeast Church Road, Mount Olive, were charged by Duplin officers with breaking and entering, larceny of a precursor chemical and possession of the stolen chemical.
The three men were placed in the Duplin County Jail.
The SBI's mobile crime lab assisted in the investigation of the mobile home and of a storage building on West Main Street Extension in Mount Olive.
First Sgt. Max Staps of the Goldsboro-Wayne County Drug Squad said he received information from Duplin authorities about the break-in and began an investigation of the meth operation at 10 a.m. Sunday. The drug squad completed its work at 3 a.m. Monday.
Staps said the mobile home had been under investigation for some time. He said more arrests are possible.
"There are more meth labs in Wayne County," said Stap. "We're taking them out one by one."